Votto: ‘It was handled perfectly’

Injured Reds 1B Joey Votto was back in the clubhouse on Wednesday, albeit on crutches with a wrap around the left knee that underwent arthroscopic surgery a day earlier. Votto was good spirits and smiling and talked about his situation.

I will have a more detailed story on MLB.com soon…but for now here is a snippet. The bottom line is Votto has no regrets on how he or the club handled the injury that became a torn meniscus cartilage.

“I was feeling great,” Votto said. “Those four days off at the All-Star game and then coming back, I was almost 85-90 percent running. Then all of a sudden, it started swelling up and it felt like I tweaked something. It felt like it felt in San Francisco. That’s when I knew it was time to go in and talk some more to them. I thought it was handled perfectly. I got to play in California, play in the All-Star game and I healed. My knee told me the truth.”

Votto said the tweaking of the knee happened on Sunday. He underwent the MRI on Monday that revealed the tear. If he had to do it over again, would he have gotten the MRI closer to when he was originally hurt on June 29 in San Francisco?

“No. I really wouldn’t,” Votto replied. “All of us players, we deal with things here and there. Sometimes, you think you might need some help and then it heals. Other times, you don’t think you need help and it’s something serious. I was always taught to stay out of training room, play as much as you can, and if you can play, play. For better or worse in the long run, that’s going to pay off for me and for the Reds.

“I was very optimistic. I was hoping it was just something muscular and it turned out to be a small structural thing. Ask 100 different ballplayers, especially those play every day, you just play. You don’t gripe about it. If things get in the way and become serious and when you can’t perform — I couldn’t run, I couldn’t be agile and that’s when I knew it was time. We’re trying to stay in first place and win the division, that’s another reason I felt it was wise to wait it out and hopefully heal and be able to help the team.”

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